Vintage Manual Scoreboards Help Give Baseball An Oldtime Feel

EUGENE, Ore. - Scorekeepers Bryan Williford and Devlin Cary stand on the open-air catwalk behind the vintage scoreboard at Civic Stadium, watching the action on the baseball diamond through a slot next to the Pepsi logo.

The two teen-agers flip the switches that light up the series of red bulbs that help fans of the Class A Eugene Emeralds keep track of strikes, hits and errors and switch the numbered placards that track the score.

This night, the game between the Emeralds and Everett AquaSox has been scoreless through five innings.

Suddenly Williford leaps to his feet. "HEADS UP!" he shouts, as Everett batter Joe Pomierski smacks a homer toward the scoreboard.

Williford flips the light switches, then dashes to the bin that holds metal numbers to fill the slots on the scoreboard.

He works fast, knowing he has only about 30 seconds or so the beer garden crowd starts jeering. "I need a 6 and a 2," he mutters to himself.

Only two decades ago, such scenes were commonplace.

Today, there may be fewer than a dozen manual scoreboards in minor league parks across the country.

The rest have been replaced by electronic scoreboards equipped with color video panels that do everything from running instant replays to advertising the services of the local chiropractor.

Two remaining manual scoreboards can be found in the Northwest League, where the Eugene and Everett franchises still keep fans informed like they used to - and like some baseball purists believe they still should.

"You see one of these manual scoreboards in a park, and it's pure nostalgia - baseball as it used to be," says Bob Sparks, executive director of special events for the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"And after what this industry has been going through recently, anything that harkens back to the old days is pure relief," Sparks says.

In Everett, owner Bob Bavasi has built a replica of the scoreboard at the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field - right down to the sign that reads, "Hit this sign and win a suit."

The signs has special meaning for Bavasi, whose father, Buzz, once was general manager of the Dodgers.

"These scoreboards make baseball somehow more touchable for fans," says Bavasi, who plans on keeping the manual scoreboard in an upcoming $4 million stadium remodel. "Fans just like knowing that someone is back there keeping score."

In Eugene, Emeralds President Bob Beban believes a manual scoreboard is consistent with the age of Civic Stadium.

"We have a very old stadium, and I felt it would be inappropriate to have a fancy scoreboard in here," Beban says. "I also did it for the sake of tradition, which is why a lot of us go to the games and why our dads and granddads went.

"I think it speaks of baseball in a simpler time."